I believe his own mother did that to herself without him wanting her to do it, not unless he changed how she looked as an Aeon or something. Anyway, that turns it more into a mommy issue than being THAT wicked.

You're probably right about that. Which also means that all that Seymour could accomplish was to suck hard and die, and then die again after returning from the dead to suck some more.

Welp I tried. There really isn't a defense for a character that is made of pure fail and lose.

Belts and zippers are the least of Nomura's problems. His utter inability to draw motion, give his characters realistic weight, or break with consistently plastic shading are more critical flaws in his work.

Seymour is a catastrophe in visual design, a disgrace in overarching plot portrayal... but ya know what? I actually kinda like his dilivery. It's creepy and disturbing, and I, for one, think that it works. It makes him utterly and totally dislikable, which is sometimes a welcome trait for a villain in a sea of "look at me, I'm an evil badass" Sephiroth clones. Unfortunately, everything else about him is made of fail, even his actual dialogue. But I just happened to like the interesting choice of voice acting.

Yaag looks like a very interesting character, however. He looks like an evil muscleman, but from what I've seen, he has a bit of compassion.

Besides, half the cast undead in FFX. Death in that game was more of a mild inconvenience than anything else.

I will admit turning his own mother into that is pretty hardcore. Too bad that its his only real villainous act aside from patriciding his own father for political gain which again isn't exactly worth a hell of a lot in Spira.

Actually, though

Code:

Auron was able to remain unsent but I don't believe just anyone could do that. Wasn't Jyscal, Seymour's dad, all effed up when he could appear? And the rest of the time I assume he was in limbo. The game also talks about most of those who remain unsent becoming fiends. So dying does suck in FFX unless you're Auron.

I'm not a huge Seymour fan but I think he mainly just needed a better character design.

Besides, half the cast undead in FFX. Death in that game was more of a mild inconvenience than anything else.

I will admit turning his own mother into that is pretty hardcore. Too bad that its his only real villainous act aside from patriciding his own father for political gain which again isn't exactly worth a hell of a lot in Spira.

Actually, though

Code:

Auron was able to remain unsent but I don't believe just anyone could do that. Wasn't Jyscal, Seymour's dad, all effed up when he could appear? And the rest of the time I assume he was in limbo. The game also talks about most of those who remain unsent becoming fiends. So dying does suck in FFX unless you're Auron.

I'm not a huge Seymour fan but I think he mainly just needed a better character design.

There was also the head of Yevon guy who near the end realizes that the jig is up and fades away. If nothing else, the fact that he was able to linger around too suggests that there's some trick to cheating death for a while that the higher ups get to know about.

Amano is actually a damned good painter. Not all his renderings are necessarily pleasing, but in terms of both technical skill and aesthetic handling, Amano runs circles around Nomura and pisses on his face.

Amano is actually a damned good painter. Not all his renderings are necessarily pleasing, but in terms of both technical skill and aesthetic handling, Amano runs circles around Nomura and pisses on his face.

Gotta agree. Amano's concept art isn't SUPPOSED to look like the final renderings, it never was. It's sort of like the line-art style graphics you see for the MGS games... it's a stylized starting point that is used for a lot of box art but isn't actually in the game. And for what it's worth, it's some of the more unique artwork you see in game design. He's probably also part of the process of turning those concept pieces into usable character models, and for the most part, he does a decent job. I think Nomura started out strong (FF8), but he grew a big head and decided to make the character models stand out so much that they're outrageous. Nomura doesn't give off the vibe of being a team player, he wants everyone too notice HIS work in the game, and not simply make designs that synergize with the rest of the game's style. Amano gets out his "Look at me, I'm an artist" fun beforehand, but allows his work to be melded into the rest of the game's style when it comes down to business. Maybe if Amano did more stylized concept art, he wouldn't be tempted to make his in-game character work look so outrageous.

I would venture to say that Amano is an actual artist, whereas Nomura is just some guy who can draw pretty okay. Nomura's portfolio is horribly limited, and all of his work screams of boundaries he's unable to overcome. Amano's is quite the opposite, because he's able to do everything from particularly realistic to extremely bizarre and outrageous. Look at anything outside of his Final Fantasy work and it's rather incredible. It's no wonder he's a bit of a national treasure to Japan.